24 Hour Read-A-Thon: Eid Al Adha Edition

October 12, 2013

From 4pm this afternoon until 4pm tomorrow afternoon, I’m joining in on the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon! It’s sort of a reading challenge, only everyone participates at the same time. For 24 hours, we read books, post in our blogs about our reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day.

This is my seventh time participating in the read-a-thon. This time, I’m only reading, no cheerleading or mini-challenge hosting. Normally, I would be at work tomorrow, but I have the day off tomorrow as we have this week off for Eid break! I’ll be doing some prep work around the house during the readathon as I’m leaving for Sri Lanka tomorrow evening, but other than that, I’m pretty much just reading away.

Here’s some of what I’m hoping to get around to (at least partly) in the next 24 hours:

Cooked by Michael Pollan

Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

Homeward Bound by Emily Matchar

Updates

Hour 1: 4-5pm

I’m starting off the readathon listening to Shattered Dreams and getting some housework done. Putting new sheets on the bed and starting laundry are the calls of the moment!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? – I’m reading from Abu Dhabi today!
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? – I’ve been looking forward to reading Homeward Bound for quite a while, and finally picked it up for my ereader a couple weeks ago in preparation for today.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? – I haven’t picked up anything specific yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got ingredients in the fridge to make Pina Colada Chicken either for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow, which should be tasty.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! – Not really much to tell that you can’t find on the blog already. I’m an English teacher over here in the UAE at the moment, and I’ve been blogging for about almost 4 years now.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? – I’m just going to focus more on reading and less on other things. Need to get my groove on!

Hour 2: 5-6pm

I’m continuing to listen to Shattered Dreams for this hour. Making it through the mid-afternoon energy slump! Also, I participated in the mini-challenge.

Hour 3: 6-7pm

Strategic early nap. (Yes, yes … I know.)

Hour 4: 7-8pm

Working on reading Cooked on my ereader. Why is it that it always feels slower reading on my Kobo than reading a paper book? Anybody else feel that your reading speed decreases when you’re looking at a screen?

Hour 5: 8-9pm

Went out to get some quick dinner and buy snacks for later in the evening, all while listening to Shattered Dreams.

Hour 6: 9-10pm

Continued reading Cooked.

Hour 7: 10-11pm

Continued reading Cooked.

Hour 8: 11pm-12am

Continued reading Cooked. Had a bit of a snack – seashell chocolates!

Hour 9: 12-1am

Continued reading Cooked.

Hour 10: 1-2am

Continued reading Cooked for half an hour. Now I’m heading off to sleep for a few hours – I’m travelling tomorrow evening so I can’t afford to go completely without sleep tonight. I’ll be back in the morning (my time) … probably about 5-6 hours or so.

Hours 11-17: 2-9am

Sleep. Glorious sleep.

Hour 18: 9-10am

Picking up where I left off – plowing through Cooked. My goal is to finish it before I head out to pick up some breakfast. (I may have had leftover apple crisp planned … and then ate it yesterday afternoon and have none leftover. *blush*)

Hour 19: 10-11am

Continued reading Cooked.

Hour 20: 11am-12pm

Heading out to drop off my foster cats to another person to watch while I’m away on vacation. I’ll be listening to Shattered Dreams while I go there and back, and probably pick up some breakfast on the way.

Hour 21: 12-1pm

Continued listening to Shattered Dreams while dropping off the kitties and visiting the currency exchange.

Hour 22: 1-2pm

Listening to Shattered Dreams while I try to arrange for transportation to the airport (or cheaper parking near it) for later today, and while I start working on putting away laundry and packing a bag for the trip.

Hour 23: 2-3pm

Continued reading Cooked. And finished it – huzzah!

Hour 24: 3-4pm

Started reading Homeward Bound. And had a lovely shower. And now for the exit poll!

Which hour was most daunting for you? – To be honest, for me it was the hours in the afternoon when I would normally take a nap. I meant to have one before the readathon started, but then I got distracted and didn’t … that was a mistake, started me off on poor footing.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? – Nothing that I read this year, to be honest. I was working more on a “this is what I was planning to read anyways” basis than on a “what can I read easily?” basis.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? – Nope. Lovely as usual.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? – The cheerleaders, as usual, were great. Loved having the pick-me-up in the wee hours.

How many books did you read? – I finished one that I had started before, got about halfway through an audiobook, and have started a third. Not exactly a record for me, but still good considering how little I’d read for the past month.

What were the names of the books you read? – Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist’s Wife, andHomeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity.

Which book did you enjoy most? – I spent most of my time reading Cooked, but I think I would’ve enjoyed reading much more of Homeward Bound if I’d started with it instead.

Which did you enjoy least? – So far, I’m probably enjoying Shattered Dreams the least. I kind of want to throw the narrator through a window for being a moron.

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? – Just keep up what you’re doing. 🙂

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? – Absolutely. Probably still just as a reader … I really need to pick myself up from my bootstraps and get back into the habit properly.

Hope you all had a great readathon! Thanks to the cheerleaders for keeping me focused!

18 Comments

I’m back. Thanks for the tweet. You’re a legend for still getting some of your housework done. When I read, everything else just zones out! I get too focused on characters and story. Some great books on your list. I’ve only read the first A Game of Thrones but I’ve got the CD Audiobook out of Book2 so might listen to that later today. #TeamTiger
#RahRahReadathon

Well, I’m going away on vacation tomorrow evening for almost a week, so I can’t be heading out without clean clothes! Or leaving dirty dishes lying around. Plus, moving around helps me stay awake. So it’s kind of a help toward the readathon as well. 🙂

Wow, your seventh readathon, that’s amazing! This is only my second and I’m just doing the cheering this year. It’s really fun to have ago at a different aspect of the readathon! So here’s my little rhyme for you:

Read, read, read that book,
Whether on paper or a nook.
We all know you can do it,
Your determination will get you though it!
Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppp reading. 🙂

I hope you enjoy all your wonderful book, I’m intrigued because I haven’t heard of most of them. Don’t forget the caffine intake. 😉

I’m probably slower on ebooks too. Do you think it’s because we aren’t flicking through pages, like an actual book. Like seeing the thickness of what you’re reading? Hmmm….
Are you keeping a page total. When I need a little motivation I always think of Dory the fish from Finding Nemo “Just keep swimming,” or in your case Just keep reading! #TeamTiger

I also did not plan for strategic books to read. I had a goal of cleaning some books off of my Kindle. Next time I think I will plan on having some books I really want to read. It made it hard to keep going when I was ambivalent about some of my books.